Digitalisation Study 2018

Motivation and Background

Digitalisation of financial services is responsible for the framework of the financial market changing more quickly and radically than has been the case in decades. It is generally clear and no longer a revelation that digitalisation provides undertakings in the financial market with many opportunities, while also exposing them to new threats. Logically the Austrian Financial Market Authority is placing digitalisation under scrutiny in light of new challenges it throws up and the supervisory tools the FMA has at its disposal.

The FMA wishes to take an additional step forward and gain even more new insights. In 2018, a comprehensive analysis on digitalisation in the Austrian financial market was therefore started. This report serves as a preliminary stock take, which specifically depicts the current status of digitalisation of the Austrian financial market and areas in which digital technologies are deployed. Furthermore, we also want provide an assessment in a concise form about drivers, trends and potential future developments. By doing so, we hope to create a sound basis for us, the FMA, to remain on the ball with regard to digitalisation, and to be able to correctly assess developments.

Risks represent the FMA’s focus of attention in so doing. This report therefore examines digitalisation in the Austrian financial market predominantly from a risk-based perspective. In so doing we adhere strictly to the principle of technological neutrality: the FMA does not supervise any technologies, but instead primarily focuses on risks. Equal risks require equally high supervisory requirements, irrespective of whether they arise from digital or analogue business models or processes. Our survey and report assist us in assessing the risks associated with digitalisation in a correct and timely manner.

The best basis for information about digitalisation in the Austrian financial market

We conducted a comprehensive data collection exercise in the Austrian financial market for the purposes of this analysis in order to obtain new insights into opportunities, trends and risks associated with digitalisation. In 2018 we surveyed supervised entities and were able to base our evaluation on responses received from undertakings across all market sectors. In many sectors of the financial market, we were also able to achieve near 100% market coverage.

Implications for the FMA’s supervisory activities

Based on research findings about international, European and national initiatives about digitalisation in the financial market and the results of the surveys conducted in individual sectors and based on other observations from ongoing supervision potential implications of digitalisation have been identified in the individual sectors for the FMA’s supervisory activities, and potential courses of action for the FMA derived accordingly. We outlined them at the end of the respective chapter and considered them when positioning the FMA in the legislative process at European level, as well as using them as input for planning priorities for supervision.

Digitalisation in the Austrian Financial Market - Call for Input: Results 2020 (Format: pdf, Size: 837,9 KB, Language: English) Digitalisation in the Austrian Financial Market - 2019 (Format: pdf, Size: 3,4 MB, Language: English)